Adventures in Ham Radio

[alfsauve]

OTHER HOBBIES:

I've dabble:  (Mostly as a teenager)
Model RR
Free Flight model aircraft
Radio Control aircraft
Sailing
Bowling
Horseback Riding
Bicycling (touring, not BMX or racing)
Motorcycles
Coast Guard Aux
Wine and beer making
Scuba

[alfsauve]

Field Day 2024 has come and gone.

I did manage to contact 2 of my  4 10m missing states for Worked All State, AR and NC.  It'll remain to be seen, once LoTW^* is back operational, whether they will count or not.

Did rather good for me this year:

Here's my yearly contacts, all FT8 digital, since I've been back on airL

2021  5
2022  25
2023  5
2024  15

Wow.  Just Wow

^*  LoTW
FYI:  Logbook of The World.  ARRL (like NRA but for hams) has an online logbook.  You upload your contacts in the blind.  You can only query and see what you've uploaded, nobody else's data.   If the other station uploads a matching contact then you get credit for the radio contact, called a QSL.  It also tracks your progress towards awards such as Worked All States and DX Century Club (100 foreign contacts).  With digital uploading is done automagically so it's no hassle.  Voice and code contacts require entering the data manually.

<RANT>
Problem is ARRL got hit with a cyber attack middle May and LoTW has been down since then.  It has a lot of dependencies so it will be the last system they restore.  They claim the data is backed up, safe and secure.  While I have my contacts info backed up, if any data is lost, not only would I have to reupload them but so would all my contact hams.  Some people will opt out of the system over this outage.   I've no beef with doing what it takes to get the system back up, however, their PR crisis management is some of the worst I've ever seen.  What was obvious to most all hams, that they'd been attacked, wasn't admitted to for 2 weeks.  Then it's been like pulling teeth to get any information.  While they have a plan they're keeping all the users in the dark.   And the information is only coming out as a link (pull) on the home page spasmodically, instead of being in the weekly newletters (push).   Statements like

..we have taken the precautionary measure of keeping the services offline until we can ensure the security and integrity of our networks.

are not helpful.  What needs to be said are things like:

"We've identified the necessary steps and milestones needed to bring the system on-line.  We've set a prelimnary target date of xx/xx/xx.  This may change as we go through the each of processes with security consultants and law enforcement.  There are nn steps needed to be accomplished and we have completed mmm of them so far."

And the info needs to be included in every regular newsletter each week.  Keeping everyone in the dark about the progress is creating bad will and loosing participation. 

</RANT>

[alfsauve]

Got the 10m rigid dipole up just now.  10m is dead at the moment (activity web sites, not just my receiver) but the noise pattern is so much different than with the vertical.

I know 10m has a very limited ground wave which is why stations <200mi are hard to contact, but AR, TN, NC and SC are the same distance as S. GA, N FL, and AL which I've all contacted.   Because my vertical is tower mounted and not above the second floor and because of the two other verticals within 3ft of it, I think it's caused some RF shadows.  Having taken down one of the verticals, a VHF/UHF discone, I'll also see if that affects my pattern on 10m as well as 20m.

Will monitor 10m with this dipole for the rest of the week and see what happens.  Don't think I'm putting the discone back up.  Haven't done any scanning in a long while and I'll just use the built in whip on the scanner for now.  Everything I want to hear (local golf club maintanence, Dobbins AFB, GMRS, FRS, etc) are very close.

[added 20min later]

Heard a S. GA station in Tifton, but he was down in the noise floor and didn't return my call.  Did make a contact with Deltona, FL.  Has a low SWR and is obviously working.

[alfsauve]

So how's that 10m dipole working?
The 10m band hasn't been very active on FT8 mode, but with that antenna I've got a pipeline into Arkansas.  Worked 2 or 3 a day.

Without LOTW, I'm not sure if I got NC during Field Day or not yet.  Still haven't heard TN or SC.  Hoping this weekend there'll be a Memphis or a Charleston station on.  Because of the way it's mounted I don't have a lot or rotational ability (picture later), and it's very low below the roof peak.  I may turn it slightly to see if that makes a difference.  Checking POTA and DX Summit, as well as Grid Tracker  for spots.

[alfsauve]

Not ideal, but it's mine.

[Sponsor]

[Rastus]

Looks good.  I've been gone for a week or so.  I'm going to rag on having a loop....a vertical loop.  It doesn't have to be round it can be square, rectangular or odd.  And it only needs to be 3-4' off of the ground to perform.

I have one with 74' of wire in a tree fed from the side parallel to the ground with ladder line cut for 20 meters.  I tune all bands with my tuner except 17M. 

And...I've done greyline contacts to South America on 10M using 90 watts. 

If you don't have a tuner you'll need to tie it into a balun back at the shack...I think a 9:1 would be about right.   The SWR will be way high at 160M and pretty high on other bands not good multiples to the 20 Meter....but high SWR means nothing to ladder line and there is still no meaningful loss when you have say a 10 or 12 to 1 SWR. 

[alfsauve]

Did somebody mention that the 13 Colonies contest starts tomorrow?

Got DX Summit primed with the 15 call signs (13 + UK and France).  Will be holding forth on FT8, which ever band is active.

W4ADS

http://13colonies.us/

[Rastus]

Alf, thanks for the heads up on the 13 Colonies Event!

Guys...you can listen in on your shortwave radios....can't you?  TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN

What did I just imply?  I know some of you have a shortwave radio for emergencies.  Do you know how to use it?  That's the implication...that you may not know how to use it or something isn't right about the radio.  It's just like training to use your firearm.

Go to Alf's link for the 13 Colonies Event here:  http://13colonies.us/  This will tell you what you need to know.

What...did you say, you aren't sure how to do that?  Well, call this a week long opportunity for a training exercise.  Batteries are shot or leaking?  Can't find the radio you say?  What...no antenna?  Wait a minute, you have an antenna and can't hear anything?  Your wife sold it at the last garage sale?  Oh no, the damned thing is broken?  TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN

If you think you have a SW Radio for emergencies...then you should probably do more with it than you do.

I'm just sayin'....   Not wanting to piss anyone off here...but you oughta try it before you need it.

[alfsauve]

Of course with just a radio, you'll primarily be listening for the voice (SSB) stations.

But I wouldn't be surprised if you did a real neat log of the 13 C stations K2A, K2B etc, plub the 4 other calls, listed date, time and signal strength you heard them, maybe also at least one of the stations they were "working" at the time, then sent it to the the 13C folks as a Short Wave Listener they'd probably give you certificate also.